Textile Futures Research Student Group

Perspectives on future sustainable design

2012-01-25T13:02:00.001Z

Come and join us for this exciting TFRC research event at the occasion of Central Saint Martins' Green week on the 6th of February. Further details on TFRC's blog.

Out of Control - 8th International Conference on Design & Emotion

2012-01-04T08:17:00.004Z

London 11–14 September 2012

The organising committee of the 8th International Conference on Design & Emotion is very pleased to invite you to participate in this event. This conference is a forum held every other year where practitioners, academics and industry leaders meet and exchange knowledge and insights concerning the cross-disciplinary field of design and emotion.

We are looking for researchers, academics and practitioners to submit proposals.

Conference Topic

While Design &Emotion is the overarching focus of the conference–allowing us to consider all aspects of the relationship between human experience and design understood in its widest senses–the theme this year is "Out of Control".

For a number of years, uncertainty, crisis and chaos have been keywords describing the experience of many of us. A world driven by uncertainty, crisis and chaos demands different responses from design (as a community, a practice and a process). On one hand we can mitigate against these designing systems which can withstand, or manage, the challenges they produce. Here there is a focus upon design as a "problem solving" activity. On the other, we can use them as springboards to a creative future. In this way, design as "opportunity mapping" becomes important.

We would like to encompass both of these approaches to design and to examine how they impact upon, or are generated by, the whole spectrum of human emotion experienced at the macro (socio-cultural), micro (personal), meta (philosophical), processural (methodological) and strategic levels.

This conference is open to any theoretical, empirical or methodological work on Design & Emotion and we are particularly interested in receiving papers from researchers, academics and practitioners in the following topic areas (though they are by no means exhaustive and other work relevant to the theme will be considered):

SOCIETY/CULTURE
Socially Responsive/
Responsible Design
Design for Behavioural Change
Design & Space/Environment
Design for Digital Media
Corporate Social
Responsibility

THE SELF/THE OBJECT
Design & Identity
Design & Well-Being
(incl. food, healthcare & love)
Design & Illusion,
Fake & Fraud
User Experience
(inc. Human Factors & HCI)
Experience Design

THE PHILOPHICAL
Design without Emotion
Design, Affect & the Materiality of Experience
Design, Magic & Enchantment

PROCESSES, METHODOLOGIES, TOOLS & METHODS
Research Methodologies
Theoretical Foundations
Empirical Approaches

DESIGN, STATEGY & INNOVATION
Design & the Future (foresight/trends)
Designing Services Business Experience Branding

Deadlines

1 February 2012 -Papers & Case Study submissions

1 May 2012 -Workshops/Masterclasses submissions

Further details on the conference website

Vacant PhD scholarship "Complex Modelling"

2011-12-22T13:34:00.003Z

Though it is not specifically related to textiles, I thought I would just mention this great opportunity for PhD studentship as it might interest some of our architects and digital crafting friends. The PhD will take place at CITA, Centre for IT & Architecture, The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture from the 1rst of April 2012. The Scholarship is for 3 years and fully funded. The position is placed within the framing research topic Complex Modelling.

A bit more content is provided below with introduction to the context of research but for full details about the application please visit this link.

Over the last 30 years, we have witnessed a large-scale digitisation of archictectural practice. Contemporary architecture is almost exclusively produced using digital tools, and the computer has become a key tool in the way architecture is thought of, designed and produced. Today, digital tools have an impact on architecture on the most simple level to the most complex one. If on the one hand, the computer is a simple drawing tool that we use to represent our surroundings, its is on the other hand also the medium through which we seek solutions to complex contemporary issues that our society faces. It is through these digital tools and their potential to compute large amounts of data with a high degree of complexity that we as a knowledge society seek to find solutions to the urbanisation of mega-cities, globalisation and sustainability.

This shift has placed new demands on our represenation forms. The new information models that are able to actively calculate the economic, environmental and spatial effects of a proposal, have transformed architectural representation into a dynamic and flexible medium that is able to interface directly with outside knowledge fields. However, information models also have there own inherent problems. They become larger because they contain data from the many practices that constitute the construction industry, they become longer because they are expanded to include several of the building phases and they become deeper because the specific volumes of information, which the models must be able to handle, are growing.

This results in a dramatic increase in complexity, and leads us to question the fundamental ways in which information models are organised. If we as architects and engineers must work with large datasets and must be able to simulate and analyse these in ways that make sense, it is necessary that we consider how these models may be presented.

Today, information models are reproduced in accordance with architecture’s traditional development in three dimensions. As an automation of plans and section views, the 3D model serves as a continuation of the traditional architectural drawing hall. This PhD project will explore how other forms of information organisation may help to create intelligent tools for architectural design, analysis and realisation. To manage these digital models concretely and optimally, it is essential to have a critical understanding of how parametric and generative computer models may be developed and monitored.

Applications are to be handed in no later than Wednesday 1 February 2012 at 12.00 noon.

The Role of Material Evidence in Architectural Research: Drawings, Models, Experiments

2011-12-14T21:21:00.007Z

The Role of Material Evidence in Architectural Research: Drawings, Models, Experiments, by Anne Beim and Mette Ramsgaard Thomsen is one of the recent publications of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture, Design and Conservation discussing what is regarded as valid evidence in arhcitectural research and how to evaluate these materials.

The publication gathers the results of the debates initiated during the seminar of the same name organized at the school in November 2010. It gathers texts and interviews from guest researchers as for instance Jonathan Hill discussing Design Research as a 500 hundred years tradition or Yeoryia Manolopoulou talking about Enaction Drawing. The book is also an introduction to on-going PhD projects at the school which range 'from tectonic inquiries into material qualities and properties to computational crafting and model making, to the creation and testing of theoretical models for simulation or articulation of tectonic principles in ordered pictograms'. A modest but rich contribution to the debate of practice-based research methodology.

With contributions by

Researchers

Jonathan Hill, Yeoryia Manolopoulou, Peter Bertram, Billie Faircloth, Karin Søndergaard, Merete Madsen, Mikkel Kragh

PhD Students

Anne-Mette Manelius, Aurélie Mossé, Peter Andreas Sattrup, Ofri Earon, Nanet Krogsbæk Mathiasen, Jacob Riiber Nielsen, Søren Nielsen, Johannes Rauff Greisen, Jan Schipull Kauschen, Cecilie Bendixen, Tore Banke

Precise writing

2011-11-14T14:08:00.001Z

Here I would like to share two references that will benefit PhD students in their writting-up period, especially useful for non-native speakers

Williams, Joseph M. 1988. Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace. Scott, Foresman, & Co.

William Strunk, Jr., 1918, The Elements of Style

These are good tools to help you structuring your writing more accuretaly. Beyond reminding you about generic rules, they provide very useful vocabulary lists/examples.

New materials within a design professional and sustainable frame of reference.

2011-11-10T21:16:00.005Z

Call for PHD fellowship

Kolding School of Design invites applications for a PhD Fellowship starting 1 February, 2012 or as soon as possible after that date. The fellowship has a three year duration and is in the field:

New materials within a design professional and sustainable frame of reference.

The position will be affiliated with the future doctoral school under the auspices of the Architect and Design Schools with place of employment at Kolding School of Design, Department of Product Design.

The project will contribute to building knowledge of new materials in a broad design sense within a sustainable frame of reference. The Department of Product Design comprises three specialist domains, Fashion, Textile, and Industrial Design, and sustainability represents one of the school’s strategic target areas.

New knowledge in this field intends to strengthen creativity and innovation in terms of education and practice, contribute to renewed self-understanding, and support design solutions to the many future challenges of product design.

The application should investigate the significance of new materials on design practice. The investigation should relate to relevant, existing, international research environments that work with material knowledge at the most advanced professional level. Moreover, in terms of methodology, the project should connect to action research and/or practice-oriented research traditions such as e.g. research-through-design. Furthermore, the application should explicate how the contribution will support the development of the three specialist domains of the department, including how it will strengthen the future development of design practice and create renewed professional self-understanding.

The Application:
There is no application form. The application must be in writing in Danish, Norwegian, Swedish or English and allow for the appointment committee to be able to assess the applicant’s qualifications and potential for completing the project.

The Application must include:

• Project description stating the subject and the thesis and delimiting the theory and methodology expected to be applied.

• A preliminary timetable which includes any expected stays with other research institutions, organisations, or companies.

The project description must be a relatively detailed design presentation of the PhD project, while the timetable must be a brief outline of the expected course of study on a quarterly basis. The application, including notes, may not exceed 14,400 characters corresponding to approx six A4 pages.

Attachments must include:

• Copy of master’s degree diploma or corresponding diploma

• Curriculum Vitae and list of any scientific or other publications which the applicant wishes to present in support of his or her application

• Any recommendations

Where possible and relevant, attached should also be:

• Information concerning project specific teaching requirements

• Information concerning special requirements regarding equipment and facilities – including requirements due to any disabilities.

• Information concerning specific requests regarding main supervisor and project supervisor as well as any secondary supervisors.

Submission and Deadline:
Application marked ”New materials within a design professional and sustainable frame of reference” must be forwarded in 4 copies to Designskolen Kolding, Aagade 10, 6000 Kolding att. Research Secretary Lise Yde no later than 15 December, 2011 at 12 PM. An electronic version (PDF file) of the application must also be uploaded via the following link:

http://golf.hr-manager.net/ApplicationInit.aspx?ProjectId=65707&DepartmentId=7546&SkipAdvertisement=true

We encourage everyone regardless of their personal background to submit their application.

FURTHER DETAILS HERE

For more information regarding the contents of the PhD Fellowship, please contact Head of Department Mathilde Aggebo, telephone +45 76 30 11 00 or mobile +45 21 42 77 04 (ma@dskd.dk).

Digital Crafting Consequences: Symposium

2011-11-04T16:29:00.002Z

Today digital technologies inform all levels of building practice. As a link between representation, design, analysis and production, digital technologies are both practical tools by which to optimise existing practice as well as speculative media by which to explore its future. By facilitating exchange and feedback between the different knowledge fields of design, engineering and crafts, digital technology holds the potential to effect new answers to the complex challenges of contemporary building practice.

The second Digital Crafting symposium will discuss the future perspectives for a new integrated digital practice. Inviting practitioners from the fields of architecture, engineering and theory to share their experiences and present recent work, the symposium aims to unfold new visions for thinking the links between design, analysis and fabrication. With a focus on interdisciplinary collaboration, bottom up thinking and complex modeling we ask how the shared digital platform can create new material strategies for design.

Digital Crafting is hosted by CITA Centre for IT and Architecture, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture, Design and Conservation.

Date: 25. Nov 2011 - 10.30h - 17.30h

Venue: Royal Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture, Design and Conservation Google maps

Auditorium - Rhytmisk Musikkonservatorium

Leo Mathisens Vej 1, Holmen, Copenhagen

Program:

10:15 Registration and coffee

10:45 Welcome and introduction Martin Tamke

11.00h Session 1: Consequences for making

chair: Phil Ayres (CITA)

Antoine Picon - Harvard Graduate School of Design / Cambridge

Fabio Gramazio – ETH / Gramazio Kohler architects / Zuerich

14.00h Session 2: Consequences for material practice

chair: Christoph Schindler (schindlersalmeron)

Jan Knippers – TU Stuttgart / Knippers Helbig Engineers / Stuttgart - New York

Marta Malé-Alemany – IAAC Barcelona / AA London

16.00h Session 3: Consequences for design practice

chair: Mette Ramsgard Thomsen (CITA)

Tobias Nolte - Gehry Technologies / Paris

Reinhard Kropf – Helen Hard Architects / Stavanger / Norway

17.30 Closing remarks and and of Symposium

The DigitalCrafting symposium addresses practitioners, researchers and students from the fields of architecture, engineering and construction. The symposium is open to the public and free of charge. Due to demand and to support organisation we ask you email your participation: martin.tamke@karch.dk

Sustainable Design - Between Ethics and Aesthetics

2011-10-31T07:36:00.002Z

Research Seminar November 11^th 2011 from 10 am to 4pm

Venue: KUC, Aagade 27, 6000Kolding, Denmark

Full program: http://www.designskolenkolding.dk/index.php?id=3863

The SEADS project explores the interplay between ethical and aesthetic values in sustainable design with the aim of promoting sustainable production and consumption. Furthermore, it seeks to strengthen and refine the public and professional debate about design and sustainability.

The seminar will present working papers as well as three keynotes from internationally recognized speakers:

Dr Martina Keitsch is specialized in philosophy, environmental ethics and aesthetics.

Dr Ann Thorpe author of The Designer’s Atlas of Sustainability.

Professor Bente Halkier, sociologist and political scientist author of Consumption challenged. Food in medialised everyday lives.

Registration to Annette Grønbæk ag@dskd.dk, no later than November 4^th

Fee including coffee and lunch 150 kr. transfer to bank account reg.: 0216 - konto: 4069032842, please mark the installment seminar 6113.600.5004

Students are welcome without food there is no fee, but you have to register, since we have limited seats.

For more details and the full program see attached file.

The seminar is organised by members of the SEADS project – Sustainability, Ethics, Aesthetics, Design and Strategy. SEADS is part of a new Centre for Design, Culture and Management set up in collaboration between Kolding School of Design and University of Southern Denmark .

Textile Research in Process

2011-10-28T07:55:00.001+01:00

TRIP: An international symposium exploring the role and relevance of traditional ‘hand skills’ in contemporary textiles, and the value and status of craft process.

Wednesday 16th and Thursday 17th November 2011 School of the Arts - Loughborough University

Technology such as digital embroidery, print and jacquard, laser and rapid prototyping are valuable assets in textile manufacturing but can be limiting and may restrict or exclude creative spontaneity in the design process, development, and production. This may lead to a more superficial approach to the origination of the designs and artefacts, inhibiting conceptual content and promoting mechanical and uniform characteristics where irregularity and subtle variety are less evident in the final textile outcomes. In contrast to this, in relation to traditional processes, human inconsistencies and even error could be promoted as positive qualities, leading to innovation through experimentation and may also embed a desirable degree of character into the textiles. The unexpected can contribute a visual and conceptual depth that is exciting and potentially unique. Within this context the hand-made has acquired a new value and respect in recent years.

Through a series of illustrated presentations and panel discussions by leading artists, designers, researchers and technologists, the symposium will seek to explore and define the role of hand skills and the value of process in contemporary textiles.

Bookings for the Symposium are now being taken..

Keynote Speakers:

Bradley Quinn
Margo Selby
Emma Henderson (Matthew Williamson)

More info on Loughbourough University website

Design Internship Opportunity with Loop

2011-10-24T13:12:00.008+01:00

Sonumbra, 2009, by Loop.ph

We are looking for motivated design interns to join our team on an exciting new commission.

We have been commissioned by Kensington Palace to create a public lighting installation to be installed in early january.

The commission is based on our studio's Archilace technique - creating architectural scale lace work based on the palaces historic lace collection.

We are looking for people with a textile background and good experience with hand crafting and fibre work. Following training you will be working as a team on fabricating a large architectural scale piece of electronic lace.

We are looking for 3 people to work with us 2-3 days a week starting from 1st November until mid January.

This is a paid internship and based in our London studio in Stoke Newington N16.

If you would like to apply please send us an email outlining your experience and interest in working on the commission.

Please let me know if you have any questions at Loop@Loop.pH

Writing a thesis

2011-10-20T19:39:00.001+01:00

As some of us are entering the writting-up phase of our PhD, I would like to share with you some references about how to write a thesis. This is far from being an easy task and a bit of help is very welcome, though, one can easily be lost in the plethora of such literature, especially as no so many references deals with the specificity of writing a practice-based PhD.

I have lately discover How to write a better thesis by David Evans and Paul Gruba, and I have found it immensely valuable at this stage of the research as it is a very synthetic book focusing on the structuring of the thesis, providing very clearly and efficient guidelines and basic tips about using word appropriately for such a task. Not especially dedicated to practice-based and design-led PhD, one of the co-author is an architect, which make it very accessible.

How to write a thesis by Rowena Murray will also be a good friend, particularly useful in respect to writting schedule and how to engage with writting at different stages of the research.

As a starter, I would warmly recommand Visualizing Research: a guide to the research process in art and design by Caroline Gray. The book is not especially dedicated to the writing process but rather deals with different ways to handle a practice-based PhD, from the very first stages up to completion. It is an excellent introduction to the implications of PhD research. Comments are more than welcome to continue the discussion.

Yard Gallery Architectures Day's

2011-09-26T09:54:00.010+01:00

Copenhagen's Gallery Yard is presenting a selection of interesting works by young architects reflecting on how public spaces can be transformed into vibrant, participative and even environmental oasis in the city. Come and discover this exciting work byCity Sleeps (US), Filipa Valente (PT) Jacob Riiber (DK) Byen Sover (DK) and Anders Christiansen (DK) - who is also curator of the show. The opening is friday the 30th of september at 17h.

More info

YARD gallery
Refshalevej 163 A, st. th
DK – 1432 Copenhagen K

Exciting London Design Festival Workshops

2011-09-19T13:50:00.009+01:00

A flavour of Something Lab's workshop, more workshops on Puff & Flock's blog

London-based textile lab Puff & Flock, has concocted a series of exciting workshops for this years London Design Festival. Hold at the fantastic Farmiloe building in Clerkenwel- this years' Designers Block venue- from 22nd to 25th of September, the workshops will be led by cutting-edge designers including Jennifer Ballie, the Something Lab or the recent formed Postextiles collective. Discover the whole programme and further details on Puff & Flock's blog.

At this occasion the Puff Up shop, a souvenir shop offering gorgeous goods, mostly limited editions, will be back. It will be located in the outside courtyard in the large inflatable cube courtesy of Inflate.

If you have the chance to be in London, I would not miss these exciting events!

Ambience Conference 28-30 November 2011

2011-09-04T08:53:00.009+01:00

The University of Borås is hosting a very promising conference and exhibition next fall, gathering researchers, artists, designers and architects who challenge the boundaries between art, design and technology. With a foundation in artistic practice the conference will be organized as a meeting place where art, design, architect and technology communities can come together to discuss and share ideas on the interfaces between art and technology development; a place where art, design, architecture and technology can meet and interact, to inform each other, and to bring new ideas back to their own community.

The full programme is about to come but I can already let you know that Jane Scott and I will respectively present a paper. All the details for the conference are available on the conference's website. Looking forward to seeing you there.

Art and Design Index to Thesis

2011-07-18T09:27:00.005+01:00

If you are looking for thesis examples in the field of practice-based and design-led research, then this link will be of interest. It is far from being exhaustive but it gives a partial overview of works in this area.

'ADIT (Art and Design Index to Theses) has been set up with funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council to provide a searchable resource of research degrees in Fine Art and Design. It aims to enable research students and their supervisors to build their understanding of the contribution that their research will make to their particular field of study.

When science talks about design

2011-07-13T00:01:00.001+01:00

Today, DTU's Chemical Engineering Department is celebrating the still unusal collaboration between scientists and designers with an article dedicated to my last responsive installation called Reef, fruit of a collaboration with electro-active polymers' specialist Guggi Kofod and interaction designer David Gauthier. Discover this nice feature entitled 'Shaping reality with electro-active polymers' in their 2010 annual report.

Proposals for Paperweight – Issue Three: “Texture”

2011-07-12T13:03:00.001+01:00

Drawing together writers, researchers, academics, enthusiasts, designers, artists and curators, each issue of Paperweight takes a timely theme related to visual and material culture, and uses it as a starting point, or an end point, or something in-between, to explore the territory from differing vantage points.

Due for publication in Autumn 2011, the third issue of Paperweight: A Newspaper of Visual and Material Culture is themed around Texture. The newspaper's editors are keen to hear proposals for contributions from designers and design historians who work with and around texture - from the smooth and the shiny, to the rough and the hairy; from fibre and fabric, to the waxed and the lacquered; and everything else.

Proposals should be submitted to Rebecca Onion (ronion.paperweight@polygraphia.co.uk) for material culture subjects or

Matt Lodder (mlodder.paperweight@polygraphia.co.uk) for visual culture topics.

Deadline for Proposals: 15 July 2011

Deadline for Submissions: 15 September 2011

For further information please see: www.polygraphia.co.uk/paperweight

Actuated Matter Workshop / Zurich / July 25-29

2011-07-05T09:30:00.004+01:00

The Actuated Matter workshop explores the application of smart materials and their ability to transform space into responsive, adaptive environments. We will develop a speculative model for membrane structures that exhibit properties of sensitivity, resilience, and decay. By physically engaging with the behaviours of active materials, we experiment with the threshold between the electronic and mechanic, the analog and the digital. The workshop follows a do-it-yourself approach and will result in the development of sonic, luminous and moving modules that will populate and activate the environment. This workshop is part of a recent research initiative called “Emotive Environments” and emerges from a collaboration between ZHDK's Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology (http://www.icst.net>), the Interaction Design Institute (http://iad.zhdk.ch>), ETH's Chair for Computer Aided Architectural Design (http://www.caad.arch.ethz.ch>) and London based Loop.pH Design Research Studio (http://loop.ph/).

Participants will work in small groups, each be led by someone with experience in the particular field of research.

The workshop will be complemented by a final presentation and unveiling event, where you are also invited to come see the results, if you cannot attend the workshop.

The workshop is free of charge.
Application forms and more information can be found at: http://blogs.iad.zhdk.ch/emotiveenvironments/actuated-matter/

APPLICATION CLOSES JULY 13

SPECIAL EFFECTS: TECHNOLOGY AND THE INTERIOR EXPERIENCE

2011-05-27T08:31:00.001+01:00

INTERIORS: DESIGN, ARCHITECTURE, CULTURE - Berg Publishers

Call for Articles - Special Issue (Vol. 3 Issue 1 - 2012)

SPECIAL EFFECTS: TECHNOLOGY AND THE INTERIOR EXPERIENCE

The editors Anne Massey (Kingston University) and John Turpin(Washington State University) invite contributions to the journal's 2012 special issue SPECIAL EFFECTS: Technology and the Interior Experience. This issue will examine the impact of technology on the development of the interior and the accompanying human experience. As the 21st century unfolds, technological additions, integrations and interventions have become more pervasive altering our interface with the built environment and greatly impacting our perception of the world around us: requiring us to face reality on the one hand, and yet allowing us to slip into immersive fantasies on the other. The divisions between outside and inside have become more porous, with virtual worlds and lived experience colliding and coalescing. Gadgets for the home; technology and sustainable living; shopping and atmosphere; projecting digital place and the development of gendered technologies are all areas that are open for analysis from an interior studies perspective.

The editors welcome submissions of articles addressing the topic of the interior and technology broadly defined. Submissions reflecting the latest research on the interior from historians, practitioners and theorists are particularly welcomed. Principal articles of 5,000 to 7,000 words, including notes and references, with 4-8 illustrations are invited, and should be sent as an attachment to interiors@bergpublishers.com by 31st July 2010.

Further details of the Journal, including Notes for Contributors, are available at www.bergjournals.com/interiors

If you have any queries about the Journal or about submitting an article, please contact: interiors@bergpublishers.com

Future Everything

2011-05-12T16:50:00.000+01:00

Future Everything: Handmade's Digital |DIY | Craft Fair

Come down to Victoria Baths on Saturday 14th May to join crafters, hackers and makers from all over the country, as they showcase their work and ask you to get involved!

Jen Ballie will be presenting the Shared Scarf Project and invite you to participate in an interactive alternative fashion experience by enabling you to rip and mix past and present fashion trends to make them your own.

A collective collection will be co-designed live from london and streamed to the stand... lots of digital tools will be on hand to enable new design concepts. All very interactive and experimental... alternatively please check www.thesharedscarfproject.com and watch the next collection evolve - online contributions welcome.

If your in Manchester please come and say hello!

The Shared Scarf Project @ DESIGNERS|MAKERS

2011-04-27T12:51:00.002+01:00

This Saturday the Shared Scarf Project will be running some DIY fashion workshops in collaboration with DESIGNERS|MAKERS Market Place. This interactive market stall will enable participants to rip and mix past and present fashion trends to make and style their own bespoke scarf.

A selection of vintage scarves and The Shared Scarf Project's first "Collective Collection" will also be on sale within the market stall.

Please come along and say hello. Workshops will be running from 11-5pm

Location:

SPACE

129-131 Mare Street

Hackney

London

E8 3RH

For further info visit www.designersmakers.com

MAKING FUTURES

2011-04-06T20:50:00.007+01:00

Final Call for abstracts. The closing date for receipt of abstracts is 1st May 2011.

Making Futures will be held on Thursday 15th and Friday 16th September 2011 at Dartington Hall on the inspiring Dartington Estate, Devon, UK.

Making Futures invites submissions from craft practitioners, curators, historians, theorists, campaigners, activists, and representatives from public and private agencies with an interest in the relationship between the contemporary crafts and sustainability issues.

CONFERENCE AIMS:
Making Futures is about agency, change and the search for new grounds and understandings of how the contemporary crafts are practiced in relation to developing global environmental and
sustainability agendas.

The conference explores the idea that these emerging agendas interrupt and restage the possibilities of craft in fundamental ways that are important to makers, their audiences, and to society more generally; that they present opportunities to redefine and reconstitute the crafts as less marginalised, more centrally productive forces in society, through new formulations and/or re-articulations of practices, identities, positions and markets.

All details about the call available here http://makingfutures.plymouthart.ac.uk

Co-Design Workshop 2/6: Collaborative Consumption

2011-03-18T14:18:00.002Z

The Scarf Project: Think | Make | Style | Share

This interactive workshop offers an opportunity to engage in an alternative fashion experience by enabling participants to think and make for themselves. A co-design toolkit will be used to facilitate action and enable the generation of a bespoke printed scarf for each participant. The workshop will end with a style session and photo shoot.

Are you a designer? A fashion / textiles student or graduate? Or are you a consumer / fashion enthusiast? Come along and get involved in a new and exciting fashion experience which will enable you to produce a scarf unique to your own style and personality.

This workshop is free and all materials will be provided. To participate send an email to : textiles2.0@gmail.com

Reef exhibited at 1:1 research by design

2011-03-17T09:26:00.006Z

Reef is the design of a self-actuated ceiling questioning how adaptive minimum energy structures can contribute re-establishing home in a synergic relationship with nature. Composed by an archipelago of electro-active modules, Reef constantly re-designs its own landscape as its modules change shape according to the exterior. Like a sail, they open and close gradually following the pulse of the wind, materializing the invisible flow of energy that connects the inside with the outside. Like corals, Reef is calcifying over time as the supporting technology is becoming obsolete, transferring its actuation back to the inhabitant as natural airflow is invited to come in.

Reef is currently displayed as a part of the 1:1 research by design, an exhibition by Institute 4 at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture, Copenhagen until the 10th of April 2011. All the details about the exhibition here.

Design: Aurélie Mossé
Collaborators: Guggi Kofod, David Gauthier
Photography: Mathilde Fuzeau

With the precious help of Kristine Agergaard Jensen, Anca Gabriela Bejenariu, Lucie Benech, Aude Béranger, Liv Elbirk, Vibber Hermansen, Bori Kovacs, Jessica Meek, Paul Nicholas, Matteo Oliverio, Brady Peters, Martin Tamke.

Smart Geometry

2011-03-16T16:51:00.005Z

Smart geometry is a key event in the field of architecture. 'To the new generations of designers, engineers and architects, mathematics and algorithms are becoming as natural as pen and pencil. Smartgeometry promotes the emergence of this new paradigm in which digital designers and craftsmen, are able to intelligently exploit the combination of digital and physical media taking projects from design right through to production.'

This year the event is hosted by CITA in Copenhagen from 28th of March until 2dn of April. The event is organized around a series of workshops and conferences time, including the following speakers:

Ben van Berkel UN Studio

Usman Haque Haque Design + Research Studio

Billie Faircloth KieranTimberlake Director of Research

Craig Schwitter + Gijs Libourel Buro Happold + Adaptive Building Initiative

Lisa Amini IBM Smarter City Lab, Dublin

Mette Ramsgaard Thomsen Head of Center for Information Technology and Architecture (CITA)

Find out more about the exciting programme on smart geometry.

Fay McCaul - Knitted Light

2011-02-25T23:12:00.003Z

On 15th February 2011 Fay McCaul presented her design work at the University of Leeds , School of Design. A Leeds graduate, Fay recently graduated from the RCA with MA Textiles.

Her work is two- fold, both a high-tech and low-tech approach to knitting light.

Inspired by Llott Llov, (knitted lights) Sarah Taylor (embedded light in woven textiles), Kwangho Lee (cable structures), Kennedy and Violich (Give Back Curtain)

Materials include photoluminescent materials, electroluminescent wire and uv fibre optics.

Check out her website: www.faymccaul.com

Smart Textiles Design Competition for Students

2011-02-12T06:28:00.007Z

Textiles are leading the pack, this become more and more present. Check out this opportunity to win 6,500 EUR for Innovative Design with Smart Textiles

'A new ambitious project puts Denmark on the world map of smart textiles. The opening of the project is marked by an international prize competition for students with a prize of 6,500 EUR. Students from all over Europe are invited to take part, and the winner is found on 12 May 2011, when TEKO, VIA University College in Herning is host for a summit for international experts and companies working with smart textiles.'

Click here to read the press release!

Contact information:

Ms. Hanne Troels Jensen, Director, Knowledge Center for Smart textiles, Tel.: +45 87 55 05 47

E-mail: htj@viauc.dk

Future Fashion Textiles Competition

2011-02-07T19:52:00.002Z

+ + + + + + TFRC’s Future Fashion Textiles Competition, 2011 + + + + + +

with VF Corporation, USA

Textile Futures Research Centre is to host a design competition with VF Corporation.

VF Corporation is a US based, $7 billion apparel conglomerate and parent company to over 25 global apparel brands, including The North Face, Vans, Lee, Wrangler, Eastpak, Jansport, and Nautica, as well as several others. They will hold an Innovation Summit to in September 2011 for the executive teams of each of VF's brands, where there will be an opportunity for University of the Arts London students to present cutting-edge design research and concepts.

The Textile Futures Research Centre (TFRC) is one of the UAL’s six research centres, and is renowned for its innovative and ground breaking work in the fields of practice-based textiles design research, which explores digital, science and sustainable textiles. This TFRC / VF competition is open to all students and recent graduates (2 yrs) from Central St Martins, London College of Fashion and Chelsea College of Art and Design, including: BA and MA Textiles at CSM and CCW; MA Fashion, CSM, and MA Digital Fashion, LCF; and TFRC & UAL Research Students

Themes

The competition covers five future textiles themes, which will be explored by eminent researchers in the various fields. The launch event will be on Monday 21^st February 2011 (2 – 6pm, Lecture Theatre 272 High Holborn):

Theme 1 ‘Simplicity Regained’ – Dr Emma Neuberg, Slow Textiles and Fashion Design

Theme 2 ‘Trust Rebalanced’ – Adam Thorpe, Design Against Crime (DAC)

Theme 3 ‘Networked Lives’ – Di Mainstone, Peformance, Technology and Fashion

Theme 4 ‘Responsible Living’ - Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino, Interaction Design

Theme 5 ‘Health & Wellness’ – Suzanne Lee, Biocouture

Prizes

· 10 x TFRC Making and Mentoring Awards (£250 cash and 2 feedback sessions with a mentor)

· Top prize of £1500, work included in the VF Corp USA Summit exhibition, & trip to the summit, September 2011

Timescale

Launch Event: Monday 21^st February 2011;

Deadline for Proposals: March 2011

Mentoring Awards announcement: April 2011

First Mentoring Session: May 2011, Innovation Centre, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design

For Further Info Visit http://tfrcconnections.blogspot.com/

Call for participation / electro-active polymers

2011-02-01T09:21:00.009Z

Do you want to find out more about smart materials? Aurélie proposes you an immersion in the world of electro-active polymers: plastics changing shape with electricity. As a part of her PhD exploring the boundaries between textiles and architecture, she is looking for benevolent(s) to assist her for the making of a responsive installation. The installation will consist in a ceiling surface made out of electro-active modules, changing shape according to wind intensity and direction. It will be displayed within the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture, Copenhagen this coming month of March. Exhibition opens on the 11th of March and will be on until end of April.

Beyond the joys of team work, this is a great opportunity to discover the research environment CITA (Centre for IT & Architecture) as well as to get hands on and learn how to build electro-active modules. You will also get an insight on digital crafting methods, including laser-cutting and screen-printing techniques.

She would be happy to have help during these two key phases:

21rst of February – 6th of March: making of electro-active polymers
7th - 10th of March: setting up of the installation

If you are interested, please get in touch directly with Aurélie asp:

aurelie.mosse@karch.dk

+45 50 36 62 38

Call for Participation

2011-01-26T11:07:00.002Z

*Call for Participation*

AN EXCITING OPPORTUNITY

Calling all current fashion or textile design students/graduates interested in collaboration: you are hereby invited to participate in a practice-led research project exploring co-design.

Design has transitioned from an era of designing ‘for’ people towards the current era of designing ‘with’ people. Brown (2010) predicts that in the future, design will become a social experience and no longer practiced in isolation.

The term Generation Y is used to define a demographic (born between 1977 and 1997) who have grown up surrounded by digital media. Tapscott (2008) argues that this group are a force of social transformation:

- As consumers they want to be prosumers co-innovating products and services

- They use digital media to edit, create and distribute their own content

- They collaborate by constructing their own social networks

- They innovate by becoming active participants within the design process.

Economic changes bound up with globalisation are increasing pressures for people to re-think current models of design and production. The fashion industry is exploring new models to enable Gen Y to participate through exploratory marketing campaigns and streaming fashion week live online. There is huge potential for digital media and design to collaborate to construct new ways of working, but a re-think of the relationship between the designer and the consumer is required: both to consider how new technology can be used to enable the exchange of skills and knowledge, and to bring us into the future with consideration to the users needs and wants.

The selected participants will be invited to a design meeting where the project will be pitched and they will play an active role in defining the overall brief. You will leave with a goodie bag of design tools, tips and tricks to get started on your design research and development.

The following week we will meet again and get to work collectively designing a collection of fashion fabrics and accessories.

This is an exciting opportunity for you to participate in a live research project and play an active role in defining new design approaches, an excellent CV opportunity.

Participant Criteria

- A current fashion or textile design student or graduate

- An Interest and familiarity with digital media tools for example, blogging, twitter, Flickr and Facebook.

- Available for two weeks to participant from Monday 7th - 18th February 2011. There will be x2 real time meetings and the rest will be online.

How to Participate

Send a few short sentences describing YOU as a designer.

Send an email to: textiles2.0@gmail.com

Include: Your name, contact information, University of study, and a blog link if you have one.

Visit - http://thetextilesampler.blogspot.com/ for updates and further information. This is the first in a series of new projects so if your unavailable and would like to be considered for up and coming events just send a quick email.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

What is the impact of austerity on craft making and fashion design?

2011-01-25T22:37:00.002Z

Call for Contributions

Closing: 31-Mar-2011

The impact of recession and periods of austerity have led to changes in textile making and the skill base that supports these activities. The recent financial difficulties in the UK are resulting in an increase in craft based workshops, retail outlets stocking textile supplies and temporary shops popping up in residential areas that offer sewing machine classes and pay-by-the-hour sewing machines. Students and graduates of textile design courses are experiencing difficulties in obtaining work placements and employment in the sector. However, speaking recently Karl Lagerfeld (1) said that his work in fashion design has not been affected as he is working in a global arena where not all markets are in recession. The Crafts Council (2) reported in April 2009 that although there was a slight decrease in visitor numbers to recent contemporary craft events, there was no discernable impact on sales figures. They envisaged however a shift in the demographic of the contemporary crafts consumer. Changes in consumer attitudes and a reduction in the teaching of textile skills in schools have led to a generation with different perceptions of making.

Through this second call, DUCK wishes to explore how craft making and textile design activity is affected by austerity. Submissions are invited which address one or more of the following themes:

• What changes have been observed in textile craft making and/or textile design during and following periods of austerity such as financial recessions or war?
• In what ways do changes brought about through periods of financial constraint perpetuate during ‘good times’?
• How do textile designers and designer makers respond to changes in consumer demand and markets for their products?
• In what ways do financial constraints such as increased costs for materials lead to innovation and ingenuity in craft making?
• Do periods of austerity act as a catalyst for the acquisition of craft skills? Do they change the perceived value of textile design and making?
• To what extent does reduced funding for textile and textile design research impact on craft makers?
• How do periods of austerity impact on notions of luxury and bespoke in relation to textile products?

Authors will be informed of the outcome of their submission by the end of July 2011.

Submission Instructions
Contributions may take the form of written texts (maximum 5,000 words), visual essays, a series of images relating to methods (sketchbook style), visual diaries or other methods deemed appropriate but must address the research question.

Duck does not advise a particular format for written submissions although we ask that contributors present their ideas in an accessible format for Duck's diverse readership of researchers, educators, artists and designers. For written texts the Harvard System of referencing is preferred.

Images should be 300dpi where possible, RGB format and submitted as TIFF or JPEG files. Text should be provided in MS Word (.doc), rich text (.rtf) or pdf format.

Please provide your name, affiliation, email address, a title for your submission and a short summary of your contribution.

Please send submissions by email to: F.E.Kane2@lboro.ac.uk
(Maximum file size: 5mb)

Alternatively, please send on disk (CD or DVD) to:
DUCK Journal - Textiles Research Group
Loughborough University School of Art and Design
Loughborough
Leicestershire
LE11 3TU

Copyright
In submitting material to Duck, contributors thereby grant permission for it to be published on the Duck website. Contributors retain copyright of their material and may use it elsewhere after publication in Duck, though we would appreciate it if Duck could be acknowledged as the original source of publication.

Please note that it is the responsibility of contributors to obtain the necessary permissions for reproducing work other than their own.

Website(s):
- www.lboro.ac.uk

Inhabitating Adaptive Architecture Workshop

2011-01-25T06:45:00.003Z

Extended deadline for what sounds like a very exciting workshop:

Inhabitating Adaptive Architecture
Saturday 5 March 2011

Chaired by Holger Schnädelbach and Jonathan Hale [The University of Nottingham]

Deadline for papers extended to Friday 28 January

Announcement of acceptance 4 February 2011

This workshop will bring togehter experts from the various disciplines contributing to Adaptive Architecture to discuss the challenges faced by inhabitants (individuals, groups & organisations) in occupying adaptive buildings over various time scales.

To download the call for papers (pdf) click HERE.

Please submit a one-page A4 document to include a brief bio and a position statement (of no more than 500 words), reflecting on what it means to you to inhabit Adaptive Architecture. Participants will be selected from all submissions based on peer-review. Submission should be formatted as MSoft Word document, 12 point Arial, singled spaced. It should also include five key words (normal type), your name, institution, qualifications, role, contact address, contact e-mail address, telephone number at top of document (bold type).

Papers should be submitted by 28January 2011 to adaptivearchitecture@buildingcentre.co.uk. If the file is larger than 10MB please send an ftp link or similar and we will download from there.

Source

Pop-up christmas shop

2010-12-14T11:06:00.003Z

The christmas spirit is spreading all over from Copenhagen to London. If you still miss ideas for gifts, brush the snowflakes from your eyelashes and come take a peek at the Puff & Flock pop-up shop on Newburgh Street (just off Carnaby and around the corner from Liberty's of London). You will discover a series of textile christmas delights and other decoration accessories.

Location:
8 Newburgh Street, London W1f 7RQ

Opening Hours:
Monday, 13th December: 12 - 7 pm
Tuesday, 14th December: 12 - 9 pm *special evening event 6 - 9pm*
Wednesday, 15th December: 12 - 7pm
Thursday, 16th December: 12 - 8pm
Friday, 17th December: 12 - 7pm
Saturday, 18th December: 11 - 8pm
Sunday, 19th December: 12 - 6pm

List of Designers & Artists:
retourve by Bang Bang / Exclusive collection of up-cycled statement jewellery
Monstify / Anatomical crochet badges and more
Grit Hartung / Games, prints and t-shirts
Yuko Taguchi / Paper rings
Masako Sato / Mushroom hooks
Jo Angell / Printed cushions
smths / animated jewellery and vintage toys
Elisabeth Buecher / Make Up Wallpaper and greeting cards
Delight Rubellery / Colourful rubber jewellery by Ros Weaver
Super Chic Chick/ / Hair decorations by Marilou Rabourdin
Think-if / Elegant tea set and Zen Cup
Lucy Hall / Art works and textile design
Alexandra Cakyova / Cittatas - bird brooches
Fantastica / Laid-back intimates and vests
Tactile Wonderland / Intimates and jewellery

Read more:
http://www.carnaby.co.uk/news/news_item.cfm?id=213

Adaptive Architecture Conference

2010-12-13T10:40:00.007Z

An International Conference at the Building Centre, London,
3-5 March 2011

Architecture has always been inventive and adaptable. However, our current era is unique in its technological potential combined with societal and environmental challenges. The need to generate sustainability, developments in design techniques and technology advances are leading to the emergence of a new Adaptive Architecture.

The built environment is becoming truly responsive in terms of physical, real-time changes acting under intelligent control. Adaptive Architecture can be characterized by four key attributes; it is Dynamic, Transformable, Bio-inspired and Intelligence.

Drawing on these themes, the Adaptive Architecture Conference will bring together leading practitioners, researchers and industry experts who will present built work and practical research. Presenters will demonstrate new types of reconfigurable architecture, and will show how adaptive strategies can extend a building’s life cycle, enhance energy efficiency and optimise resource utilisation.

The conference will be organised into four modules:

Dynamic Facades
Next-generation, responsive facades will be examined, including the creation of a building fabric that is both intelligent and communicative. Presenters will demonstrate systems that are capable of reducing energy demands, enhancing occupant comfort and integrating energy generation into contemporary architecture.

Transformable Structures
Methods to create building-scale structures that change their size and shape will be demonstrated. Speakers will discuss architecture that adapts over different time-scales, whether daily cycles or long term response to changing economic demands, climate adaptation, weather patterns, emergencies and other external factors

Bio-inspired materials
Nature creates responsive organisms and materials that transform, heal, and change colour. These functions originate at the molecular level and scale up to create adaptive systems that actuate by chemical and physical cues. Utilizing insights from the natural world, researchers are now creating a new generation of adaptive materials and devices. Speakers will present state of the art research, and discuss how nature’s strategies can provide inspiration for design

Intelligence
As buildings develop the capacity to adapt, the challenge is to implement effective control where building automation systems, user interfaces and services can interact seamlessly, to embed intelligence within the architecture. Speakers will present current strategies as well as explore the future potential of intelligent systems.

Adaptive Architecture international conference will be running a peer reviewed stream for research papers.

The review committee is composed of:

Philip Beesley, Philip Beesley Architect Inc. and University of Waterloo
Professor Ulrich Knaack, TU Delft
Professor Robert Kronenburg, University of Liverpool
William McLean, University of Westminster
Andrew Scoones, The Building Centre
Holger Schnädelbach, University of Nottingham
Bob Shiel, Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London
Professor Michael Stacey, University of Nottingham

If you are interested in participating in the Adaptive Architecture international conference please contact
adaptivearchitecture@buildingcentre.co.uk

website

Organisers: The Building Centre and The Architecture & Tectonics Research Group of the University of
Nottingham.

ArchiTextile. The Textile Medium in Architecture, Past to Present

2010-11-30T08:00:00.003Z

Zurich, May 19-20, 2011

Concept:
The conference explores the textile medium, technology, material and metaphor in the history and theory of architecture from antiquity to the present. Contemporary experiments and phenomena in the architectural discourse open new perspectives onto the history and theory of architecture. Textile surfaces create architectural, social and topological spaces and are essential to the built space. Their qualities such as elasticity, foldability, plasticity, opacity and transparency are an important part of architectural language, but have not yet been studied systematically. The tension between the textile and the tectonic generates notions such as building as clothing and myths of the textile origins of architecture, and the ornamental grammar of textures connects building structures to the textus, the textual weaving. The textile medium connecting a variety of fields of human activity is equally open to historical, sociological, psychological, technological and aesthetic enquiries as it addresses issues of veiling and revealing and phenomena such as the fold, the fleece, the membrane, the curtain, the interface or the network. Historians and theorists of architecture are invited to reflect on the textility in architecture from a broad thematic and historical perspective as to contributing to a history of the textile medium.

We welcome papers that discuss subjects such as, for instance:

- Myths: textile myths of the origins of architecture (e.g. Moses' Tabernacle); anthropological origins (e.g. Gottfried Semper's Bekleidungsprinzip); nomadism in post-modern theory; modern and contemporary tent structures (e.g. Frei Otto, Herzog & de Meuron); history of the curtain wall

- Identities: sacred textile spaces (e.g. vela and cortinae in Christian, Jewish and Muslim architecture); textile display of power in the medieval and early modern period; gendered interiors (e.g. Adolf Loos, Henry van de Velde)

- Ephemerality: textile spaces in public display (e.g. medieval war tents, contemporary stadiums); theatricality of painted cloths; flexibility, changeability and performativity in contemporary architecture; mobile tents (e.g. medieval travel tents); foldable sails (e.g. antique stadium vela); tent interiors (e.g. Schinkel)

- Materials and Designs: from concrete to fiberglass; translucency of high-tech weavings; digital images and projections in space; texts printed and incised in architectural surfaces; textile geometry; CAD/digital textures; textile interiors; textile structures in urbanism

Please send your proposal for a 20 minutes paper (max. 300 words) together with a short CV and list of publications to mateusz.kapustka@access.uzh.ch. The deadline for the proposals is December 10, 2010. PhD candidates and young researchers are especially welcomed to submit their proposals.

Conference languages are German and English. The organizers will apply for funding as to cover travelling and lodging expenses. Selected papers will be published in a volume of conference proceedings.

Organizers:
Mateusz Kapustka (mateusz.kapustka@access.uzh.ch)
Laurent Stalder (laurent.stalder@gta.arch.ethz.ch)
Philip Ursprung (philip.ursprung@gta.arch.ethz.ch)
Tristan Weddigen (tristan.weddigen@khist.uzh.ch)

Institutions:
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich
University of Zurich

Link

Computation & Craft Symposium

2010-11-22T08:16:00.010Z

The Digital Crafting Research network is organizing the first Digital Crafting symposium. It asks how the progressive integration of design, analysis and making challenges the knowledge spaces of design, engineering and craft. It seeks to investigate areas of collaboration and super-imposition, and to discuss the potentials for the discipline.

Leading practitioners and researchers from fields critical to the profession are invited. Designers engaging fabrication and computation within the design process, software developers integrating physical behaviour in design environments and engineers working on the integration of analysis and design will discuss the impact of computation on design from their perspective. Together we will work to synthesise a vision for design and making in the 21st century.

The DigitalCrafting symposium is open to the public and addresses practitioners, students as well as researchers.

Date: Friday 10.12.2010

Venue: Royal Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture
Auditorium 2
Philip de Langes Allé 10
1435 Copenhagen K
Denmark

Program: 10.30 Registration
11.00 Intro to the Digital Crafting Symposium and Network - Mette Ramsgard Thomsen, Martin Tamke, Claus Peder Pedersen

11.15 Session 1: Computation and Fabrication – How to fabricate?

Enric Ruiz Geli (cloud9 / Barcelona) http://www.ruiz-geli.com
Martin Antemann (Blumer Lehmann AG/ Gossau) http://www.blumer-lehmann.ch
Fabian Scheurer (designtoproduction / Zuerich) http://www.designtoproduction.com

13.00 Lunch

13.45 Session 2: Computation and Simulation – How to Analyze?
Azam Khan, Autodesk Research (Toronto, Canada) http://www.autodeskresearch.com
Tristan Simmonds (Simmonds Studio / London) http://www.tristansimmonds.com
Sean Ahlquist (icd / University of Stuttgart) http://icd.uni-stuttgart.de

15.25 Coffee break

15.45 Session 3: Computation and Design - How to design?
Michael Meredith (mos-office New York) http://www.mos-office.net
Tobias Wallisser (Lava / AKA Stuttgart) http://www.l-a-v-a.net http://www.architektur.abk-stuttgart.de
Max Maxwell (Supermanouvre / London-NYC) http://www.supermanoeuvre.com/

17.30 Closing remarks and end of Symposium

The role of Material Evidence in Architectural Design

2010-11-01T12:44:00.009Z

This seminar, in which I will take part, is organized by DKAD, the Danish Doctoral School and will take place in the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, school of Architecture on the 3rd & 4th of November. PhD students will discuss the role of material evidences in their research in respect to the work of the guests panel, including Michael Hensel, Jonathan Hill, Billie Faircloth or Mikkel Kragh.

More info and program are available at this link.

Design Council: Design Glossary #1 - 'Co-Design'

2010-10-12T15:01:00.004+01:00

The Design Council are in the process of 'crowdsourcing' a series of design terms to help designers define their value to clients. The first term is: co-design...

The term 'co-design' is frequently used within the field of design but use, application and principles vary depending on context and discipline. Last year I carried out come research into co-design and presented on open lecture to a large group of students, tutors and my PhD supervisors.

Co-Everything: Defining Co-Design within the field of fashion & textiles was a thirty minute presentation followed by a question and answer session. This was a really valuable exercise for me as a designer and researcher... I found that the landscape is huge and the term co-design is associated to multiple modes of design practice. The question and answer session enabled the audience to challenge co-design, contribute their opinions and share their insights with me.

Following on from 'Co-Everything' I designed and facilitated a series of exploratory co-design workshops with textile design students. These workshops are going to be expanded upon over the next twelve months... If you are interested in participating please send me an email.

What is co-design? Instead of a definition I have made a list

Co-design is a method / an act of collective creativity / it bridges the gap between the designer and the user / goes beyond specialist mindsets / welcomes the unexpected / should encourage a playful approach / is a shared experience / ...

To add your definition visit the design council facebook page... I am going to submit something more specific this afternoon.

What is textile design research by Duck Journal

2010-10-08T19:32:00.002+01:00

Ice-fern by Aurélie Mossé and Mette Ramsgaard Thomsen

Duck , the electronic journal for Research in Textiles and Textile Design published by the University of Loughborough has launched its first issue. This volume explores, through a series of eleven papers, the nature and significance of current Textile Design research and aims to establish a platform for future discourse. Together with designers such as Linda Worbin or Elisabeth Heimdal, I have been publishing about my work in this issue where I unfold parts of my current research on energy-harvesting and self-actuated textiles by addressing the role smart textile can play in a domestic context. Discover more about these cutting-edge textile research, the journal is available for free at this link.

My Crowdsoucing / Crowdvoting Experiment!

2010-10-04T13:48:00.001+01:00

My Entry 2010

I am participating in a little project inspired and driven by my research project. As well as exploring co-design concepts for fashion and textile design, I am really inspired by social networking and new technology. Therefore I have set myself a 'crowdsourcing / crowdvoting' challenge and would love you to participate!

Crowdsoucing is an act of outsourcing tasks to the crowd through an open call for participation. The designs produced are openly revealed to the pubic who can cast votes and submit comments.

"Talenthouse is a platform providing opportunities to the world’s creative community – a place to participate in unique projects with artists and brands, collaborate, gain recognition and compensation."

I have submitted a fashion design concept for their creative invite to design a stage outfit for Florence from Florence and the Machine.

The Process

Stage 1: Create a design concept and submit

Stage 2: Gather support

Stage 3: Collect votes

Stage 4: Voting closes

Stage 5: the votes are counted

Stage 6: the top ten awarded a runner's up prize

Stage 7: the final five are sent to the artist who chooses the winner!

How it Works: all participants need to gather a bit of a following... they can use twitter, facebook, google news and email to promote their design and invite people to support them within this process. So, I have uploaded my design and am now working on stage two - gathering support!

If you would like to participate and support me during this experiment visit my Talenthouse and click the 'support jen' button. Stage three: voting, begins tomorrow and all supporters will be invited to vote via email or facebook!

I am going to blog about my progress and the experience itself throughout the duration of the week.

Will it be easy to collect votes or will I fail miserably... how will be design be received... do people love/hate it? It is officially out my my control and in your hands...

View my submission and show your support

Textile Environment Design: D-Day

2010-09-23T12:22:00.004+01:00

Old T-Shirt Before & Old T-Shirt After

Textiles Environment Design (TED) is a Research Group based at Chelsea College of Art & Design. I am a PhD student there and was lucky enough to participate within one of their workshops last Friday.

The Workshop titled 'D-Day' defined durability day and was inspired by the recent Martin Margiela exhibition hosted at Sommerset House, London.

Using a variety of different print techniques a collection of old garments were transformed. I really enjoyed this workshop experience and was amazed at how quickly old garments could be transformed into something new and desirable.

I transformed an old t-shirt that I no longer wore due to damage and stains (images above). You can see some of the other work produced on the TED and Make it Digital.

The full report and next event will be documented on the TED blog.

EThOS - electronic thesis online access

2010-09-20T08:32:00.003+01:00

I just would like to share with you a small PhD tip. The British Library is providing an online access to most of PhD thesis published in UK. You have to register for that but most of theses thesis are available under digital form for free. This is a very valuable resource, accessible from here .

Busy September for Puff & Flock

2010-09-16T08:17:00.007+01:00

Puff & Flock are pleased to announce a host of events and activities during the London Design Festival, September 2010.

Once again joining their friends Designersblock exhibiting in their show at the Bargehouse, London and Puff & Flock is very excited to be joined by a wealth of guest design talent in The Puff & Flock Parlour.

First up they have recent MA Textile Futures graduate, Suphichaya Vanasirkul, creating her Stressionary installation for the amusement of over stressed workers. Secondly Spanish design talent Andere Monjo will be showcasing some furniture pieces and selling her intriguing Ice Rocks Candles in the Puff & Flock shop. These two designers join installations by Puff & Flockers, Elisabeth Buecher, Jenny Leary, Jo Angell, Kathy Schicker and Melissa French.

Debuted in Milan to great success, the Puff & Flock shop makes its first appearance in London for the occasion of Designersblock. We have collected designers from all over the world alongside home grown talent, stocking a range of high quality goods from crochet eyeballs to mushroom hooks and beautiful ceramics. Our very own Amelie Labarthe will be selling jewellery and toys as design duo The Smths.

Crochet Eyeballs by Monstifiy
Mushroom Hooks by Masako Sato
Paper Rings by Yuko Taguchi
Games and T-shirts by Grit Hartung
Cushions and Textiles by Jo Angell
Jewellery by April 23
Super Chick Chic by Marilou Rabourdin
Ceramics by Kedo and Rondo
Toys and Jewellery by The Smths

Puff & Flock are also part of the Late night V&A event 'Two's a Pair', Friday 24th September 18:30 - 22:00. Elisabeth Buecher has designed and made a range of 'Siamese Accessories' costumes for two people wear at the same time as well as a magnetic attraction costume by Jenny Leary. Come join the fun and have your photo taken and leave with a commemorative sticker!

Puff & Flock's Jenny Leary is also taking part in the Anti Design Festival in a 30 minute performonstartion entitled "When Crafting Leads to Hacking" on Monday 20th Sept. Please join the audience as we demonstrate how to read encrypted information. Jenny Leary and Mimmo Belcuore will show the shape of magnetic fields embedded in data cards, and we will need public volunteers!

We are proud to announce that we are one of the winners of the MyDeco Design Democracy Awards. Watch out for our posts on the My Deco blog for the duration of The London Design Festival 2101.

Find out more on www.puffandflock.com

Domestic Space: An interdisciplinary research site on houses, homes and gardens

2010-09-14T12:28:00.003+01:00

Our friends from the SSN network have just mentionned in their last newsletter what seems to be an interesting source for references about the domestic space:

Domestic Space: An interdisciplinary research site on houses, homes and gardens - A project within the Department of Humanities at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, the site has its origins in a workshop, Rethinking Domestic Space: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Home and Garden, held at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, November 1998. Includes an extensive, searchable bibliography, an international events calendar and a collection of useful links.

You can access this database via this link

100 DAYS OF ACTIVE RESISTANCE

2010-09-08T19:08:00.000+01:00

Future Everything: Conference Call

2010-09-03T13:34:00.008+01:00

‘The best way to predict the future is to invent it’

Alan Kay

The FutureEverything conference invites proposals for talks, presentations, workshops and sessions that relate to and expand the themes listed below. Submissions of innovative formats for social interaction and experimentation are encouraged.

Exploring the interface between technology, society and culture, the internationally acclaimed FutureEverything conference is the crucible that allows artists, technologists and future-thinkers to share, innovate and interact. It has prefigured new trends and is a place where important international discussions take place.

FutureEverything can offer one hotel room night and an honorarium of £50 per proposal selected for the conference.

The deadline for submissions is 24th October 2010.

Conference Themes:

ImagineEverything

Our most daring and wide-ranging conference strand, bringing you insights into tomorrow’s society, digital creativity and free culture. Taking all of our wildest dreams for the future and imagining what would happen if they really came true is at the heart of this strand.

FutureMobilities

Exploring future scenarios for smart transport, and looking beyond the transport of everything. How can real-time data systems lead to more sustainable transport? How can travel-time become smarter and more user-controlled? Where are we going and, more importantly, how will we be getting there?

Global & Connected

Remote collaboration, telepresence, networked performance, local/global connections, and group-to-group connectivity are a focus again, following the success of the inaugural GloNet event at FutureEverything 2010.

OpenEverything

The opening up of datasets by public bodies and private companies has huge repercussions both socially and politically. What models are emerging for the fair and creative use of such material and what are the implications of an open society?

FutureEverybody

The future must be for everybody – this was the call to arms from the last festival. A conference strand on citizen engagement will explore how we can connect communities and how citizens can be co-producers in decision making, intelligence gathering and building sustainable cities.

Handmade

Contemporary craft, digital hacking, interactivities and diy culture. A new maker community is emerging, connecting the culture of traditional skills and materials with modern-day digital production, distribution and interaction techniques. FutureEverything invites makers to create objects, installations and performances that explore the cross-fertilisation of new and traditional media and materials.

Visit their website for further information

Techtextil & Avantex Symposium 2011: call for papers

2010-08-25T12:58:00.003+01:00

The symposiums will be held parallel to Techtextil, International Trade Fair for Technical Textiles and Nonwovens, in Frankfurt am Main/Germany from May 24-26, 2011.

The aim of both symposiums is to generate new impulses for the sectors covered, to boost interdisciplinary communication and to disseminate information about the latest developments and potential applications. The deadline for receipt by Messe Frankfurt is October 15, 2010. A variety of subjects will be covered within the framework of lecture blocks at the two symposiums. The themes planned are as follows:
1. Materials + products from renewable resources, e.g., from bio-polymers, natural fibers
2. Nano-technology and technical textiles – current and potential applications
3. Biomimetics / bionics (textile technology + textile materials, inspired by nature)
4. E-textiles / portable technologies
5. Fashion + Design (innovative garment textiles / Avantex)
6. Intelligent materials, e.g., textile materials with adaptive or reactive properties
7. Technology: new developments in the fields of production, processing, coating, finishing / dressing ...
8. Materials: new developments in the field of fibers and all kinds of technical textiles
9. Composites, textile-reinforced materials
10. Visions: tomorrow’s markets, products and applications
11. Industrial design and / or function of technical textiles.

To submit a lecture proposal, you must firstly register on the internet at www.techtextil2012.abstract-management.de. Proposals must be made in English.

Source

Vote for Puff & Flock to cover the London Design Week

2010-08-25T12:51:00.000+01:00

Puff & Flock has been nominated for a mydeco blog award. Winners will be part of the team covering London Design Week. So if you would like to support the tremendous fun textile collective, have a look and vote here!

Warp + weft: : cross-disciplinary approaches to weave

2010-08-18T16:51:00.007+01:00

11 Sep 11am - 5pm

The warp and weft symposium will explore how woven structure informs far more than the textiles that surround us.

Directed by Dr Jessica Hemmings (Edinburgh College of Art), invited speakers will consider weaving in relation to topics as diverse as the World Wide Web, poetry, mathematics, architecture and film.

Confirmed speakers include Professor Lesley Millar, curator of a number of key textile exhibitions in the last decade, including “Textual Space” and “Cloth & Culture Now”.

The poet Samantha Wynne-Rhydderch will read from new unpublished work that explores the “unheard voices of witches, weavers and millworkers in West Wales and Lancashire between 1610 and 1910”.

Screenings of short experimental films will explore the rhythms of weaving at the Dovecot Tapestry Studio by filmmaker Matt Hulse and Anne Wilson’s recent “Walking the Warp” project.

Expanding the boundaries of what we might consider as ‘woven’ will provide delegates with an opportunity to reconsider how central weaving is – not only to textiles – but to many other seemingly unrelated disciplines

Download a booking form.

All / Admission by ticket only. Delegates £45, Concessions £25 / Book on (01559) 370929

The National Wool Museum
Drefach Felindre
Carmarthenshire SA44 5UP.

Smart Textiles: Science and Technology of Textile Art

2010-08-16T07:50:00.003+01:00

A number of articles have been published in Leonardo and Leonardo Music Journal on topics related to the textile arts. This Special Project expands on Leonardo's archive of textile art documentation by focusing on textile artists and scientists around the world who work with smart textiles or the new textiles science and technology.

Artists and researchers interested in writing about their work involving the science and technology of smart textile and clothing arts are invited to view the Leonardo Editorial Guidelines and related information at: http://leonardo.info/Authors and send in a manuscript proposal to leonardomanuscripts@gmail.com.

The project is supported by The Marjorie Duckworth Malina Fund, which honors the memory of a key long-time supporter of Leonardo/ISAST. The project recognizes Marjorie's dedication to the ideals of international cooperation by emphasizing the participation of artists throughout the world. For information on making a donation to Leonardo/ISAST in memory of Marjorie Duckworth Malina, please visit http://leonardo.info/isast/donations.html

SOURCE: here

Fabricate / Digital Fabrication Conference

2010-07-26T18:47:00.008+01:00

FABRICATE is an internationally peer reviewed conference to be held at The Building Centre in London from 15-16 April 2011. With presentations and conversations between pioneers in design and making within architecture, construction, engineering, manufacturing, materials technology and computation. FABRICATE has emerged as the first in a series of focused events from the highly successful Digital Architecture Conference and Digital Hinterlands Exhibition in London September 2009.

FABRICATE will assess the progressive integration of digital design with manufacturing processes, and its impact on design and making in the 21st century. Discussion on key themes will include: digital craft, representation and realization, material performance and manipulation, off-site and on-site construction, interdisciplinary education, economic and sustainable contexts, automated fabrication, and associated theory.

Organised by The Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London in collaboration with The Building Centre London, this conference intends to frame discussion around the presentation of built or partially built works by individuals or collaborators in research, practice and industry selected from submissions through our Call for Works (deadline 10 September 2010).

Representing the broad disciplinary spectrum from design to production, the presentation of built work will contribute alongside leading invited speakers from Australia, Europe, North America, and Asia. A significant and supportive context for the event will be provided by London’s extensive network of global creative consultancies, many no more than a short stroll away from the venue.

We welcome original, innovative and pioneering projects for the Call for Works and we would also encouraged works in progress to enter too. Submission requirements emphasise strong and informative visual material with succinct analytical text and project synopsis. A major publication based on selected conference submissions together with articles from keynote speakers will be launched in time for the conference.

We hope you will join us in London on 15-16 April 2011.

Bob Sheil & Ruairi Glynn
Co-Chairs of FABRICATE 2011

Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction Conference

2010-07-21T13:11:00.007+01:00

TEI invite submissions of prototypes and daring ideas, tools and technologies, methods and models, as well as interactive art, interaction design, and user experience that contribute new understandings to the broad area of tangible computing, embodied interaction, interactive surfaces and embedded interactive systems. The 5th edition of the highly successful Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction (TEI) Conference series will be held between 23rd and 26th January 2011 in Funchal, Madeira, Portugal. Papers will be published in the ACM digital library.

In recent years, computing has progressively moved beyond the desktop into new physical and social contexts. As physical artifacts gain new computational behaviors, they become reprogrammable, customizable, repurposable, and interoperable in rich ecologies and diverse contexts. They also become more complex, and require intense design effort in order to be functional, usable, and enjoyable. Designing such systems demands interdisciplinary thinking. Their creation must encompass software, electronics, and mechanics, but also the system’s physical form and behavior, its social and physical milieu, and beyond.

Research on tangible and embedded interaction has gained substantial visibility and activity over the past decade and it has worn many names, including tangible interfaces, graspable interfaces, physical computing, tangible interaction, IT product design, appliance design, interactive spaces. It has also been associated with larger research areas, including mixed, virtual, and augmented reality and ubiquitous and pervasive computing. TEI brings together this emerging field, providing a meeting ground for the diverse communities of research and practice – from computing, hardware, and sensor technology, to HCI, interaction design, and CSCW, to product and industrial design and interactive arts. We invite submissions from all these perspectives, be they theoretical, conceptual, technical, applied, or artistic. The conference is designed to provide appropriate presentation forms for different types of contributions including talks, interactive exhibits, demos or performances, and posters. Accepted submissions of all types will be included in the Proceedings as papers and will be integrated within the single-track conference. Interdisciplinary submissions are particularly welcome.

More info here

Call for papers deadline: 1rst of August

Counter Point: Playing Devil’s Advocate With Sustainable Design

2010-07-13T15:23:00.003+01:00

Counter Point: Playing Devil's Advocate with Sustainable Design

The WHY: Counter Point: Playing Devil’s Advocate With Sustainable Design...

The WHAT: A Camberwell, Chelsea, Wimbledon (CCW) AGENDAS Event

The WHEN: Friday 16th July 2010, 2 – 4pm

The WHERE: Lecture Theatre, Chelsea College of Art and Design, Atterbury Street, Millbank, London SW1P 4JU (http://www.chelsea.arts.ac.uk/location.htm)

Four speakers will take up a position pro the motion and anti the motion for 5 minutes respectively, to make their case...

1. Clare Brass

2. Dr. Otto von Busch

3. Kieren Jones

4. Sandy MacLennan

Image: www.selfpassage.org von Busch (2008)

If you would like to join in the debate, please turn up on the day. This event is free, and you do not need to RSVP or reserve a space. See you there!

Visit the TED blog for more info or follow TED_Chelsea tweets direct from the event

Digital Relations in Architecture

2010-06-10T07:48:00.006+01:00

A PhD Symposium organized by CITA to investigate the impacts & challenges of digital technologies on the way we build and understand space.

I have been part of the organization and I can't wait to present my work in such a context where 17 PhD from three research centres concerned with IT & Architecture: SIAL (Australia), Bartlett (Uk) and CITA (Dk) will be gathered in dialogue with key researchers in the field including, among others, Mark & Jane Burry, Mette Ramsgaard Thomsen or Sean Hanna.

New Technologies in Digital Architecture

2010-06-09T15:33:00.005+01:00

A bit far away to join but this sounds like a very interesting event for anybody concerns with the impacts of digital technologies on the way we build. Of particular interes is the speech by Ayelet Karmon as it involves textiles !

Call for embroiders

2010-06-04T09:56:00.001+01:00

We're just embarking on an exciting project and are in search of keenembroiderers. Amit Rastogi of RCKC (the sari firm which is now a partner in the British Sari Story and Stitch) is planning a unique catwalk collection by one of his designers. It will be a collection with a difference - designed in India and embroidered in the UK i.e. completely the reverse of the usual run of things.

This is a first step in our plans to try and regenerate an embroidery industry in this country to supply samples for designers - giving (hopefully!) some of the people who have contributed or taken part in Stitch and the British Sari Story the chance to develop and use their skills. So I am spreading the word to anyone who might be interested: please email me. If you like to embroider and think you could contribute, please do think about coming on board. Geographical location doesn't matter too much -we can sort out logistics.

Initially it will be a question of getting a sample of your work to Amit, so he can start to put together a team. Look forward to hearing from you

Susan

Susan Roberts
www.bridging-arts.com
tel. + 44 (0)20 8746 2120
mob. + 44 (0)794 12 52 444

Diffus Design Worklab 1.- 4. juni

2010-05-20T19:36:00.002+01:00

The theme of the worklab is interactive textiles, soft circuits and alternative energy. We will investigate different kinds of textile conductive techniques, use of photovoltaic materials and Arduino Lilypads. The worklab will include an individual introduction to the Lilypad, programming and conductive materials. The final result will be a group project presented to the public, making an environmental statement with alternative use of solar cells, LEDs, optical fibres, thermocromic ink or other materials that offers an interactive approach to textiles.

We are working from the point of view that what you see is what you get. Electronics and circuits are not hidden, but becomes a crucial part of the expression and the aesthetics. There has always to some degree been alienation in the relation between man and technology – on the other hand textiles are the most integrated material in our everyday life. What happens when new technology gets integrated with the well-known textiles. Our everyday use of textiles combined with our everyday need for electronic devices to guide and amuse us will be the essential starting point of the workshop, theoretically as well as practically.

The worklab is a part of the e-textile project Soft Technology at Atelier Nord. The project is supported by the Norwegian Arts Council and Nordic Culture Point.

In addition to the project group of invited textile and media artists, there are three spaces available for other participants in the work group. Please apply by using the form at Atelier Nord

Experience with e-textiles and programming is required.
Application deadline: 15 May 2010.
Participants fee: NOK 500

Source

Call for Article: LIVING IN THE PAST: HISTORIES, HERITAGE AND THE INTERIOR

2010-05-20T08:44:00.003+01:00

(Vol. 2 Issue 1 – March 2011)
LIVING IN THE PAST: HISTORIES, HERITAGE AND THE INTERIOR

The editors Anne Massey and John Turpin invite contributions to the journal’s 2011 special issue Living in the Past: Histories, Heritage and the Interior.

This issue will examine the theme of the interior as a marker of history. Deeply embedded in historical processes, interiors are mutable spaces, shaped and re-shaped over time. The issue will seek to reveal the numerous ways in which interiors register and mark the passing of time and question the ways in which time and the effect of social, cultural, political and economic factors shape our understanding and assessment of the interior.

The editors welcome submission of articles addressing the following themes:
History and the Interior. How do interior designers, decorators, architects and industry use or work with history?
The concept of history as it informs design practice
The challenge of working with/within historic buildings
Historicism and revivalism in the work of architects, interior decorators and designers
The trade in architectural interiors
Re-modelling as a design practice
The Re-designation of Interiors. How have interiors figured in practices and discourses of urban and economic regeneration?
The re-development of war or disaster damaged buildings
The re-purposing of obsolete industrial/commercial/recreational/religious spaces
Histories of alteration of re-use within a single building type
Hybrids (the preservation of the architectural facade / tensions between modern interior/historic exterior)

Heritage and the Interior. How do curators and those working within the heritage industry address the question of history?

Consider issues of conservation, preservation or renovation
Explore the curatorial challenges of working with and presenting historic interiors (e.g. periodisation, narrative)

The Interior as History/Memory. How do interiors register changing patterns of social activity or human presence and in what ways do historic interiors act as a focal point of social negotiation/cultural exchange?

Explore agents of change and the re-assignment of the use of interiors in response to the changing needs of particular communities
Consider histories of alteration and re-use through study of a single site (e.g. functional shifts from domestic to commercial or religious to secular use)
Consider re-modelling and the erasure of history/histories

Submissions reflecting the latest research on the interior from historians, practitioners and theorists are particularly welcomed. Principal articles of 5,000 to 7,000 words, including notes and references, with 4-8 illustrations are invited, and should be sent as an attachment to interiors@bergpublishers.com by 1st June 2010.

Further details of the Journal, including Notes for Contributors, are available at www.bergjournals.com/interiors If you have any queries about the Journal or about submitting an article, please contact

Architectural Knitted Surfaces II : workshop

2010-05-18T10:58:00.009+01:00

I am very excited about this coming workshop on architectural knitted surfaces in which I will take part at Shenkar Univerisity (Israel). There is still some places left so come and join us !

27 June – 1 July 2010

Following the success of the first "Architectural Knitted Surfaces – Digital/Physical" workshop last year, Shenkar University is hosting a second international workshop on the topic in the last week of June 2010. The workshop explores the potential of three-dimensional knitted surfaces as models for thinking about the architectural environment. This year, it will further examine how composite textile surfaces can reflect on the material practices of architectural fabrication. We will develop bespoke computer defined textiles as frameworks for the incorporation of computational attributes; transforming knitted surfaces into robotic membranes by imbedding sensing and actuation into their skin. Combining advances in intelligent textiles with parametric modeling we ask how these new technologies have impact on the way we think, design and make architecture.

The workshop is based on a long-term collaboration between Dr. Eyal Sheffer of the Knitting Laboratory, the department of Textile Design in Shenkar and architect Ayelet Karmon of the Department of Interior – Building and Environment Design in Shenkar. This year we will also extend our collaboration with the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Denmark, by hosting Associate Professor Mette Ramsgard Thomsen, MAA, PhD, Head of CITA, Centre for Information Technology and Architecture, as part of the teaching team.

This 5-day workshop is open to students and professionals from textile design, interior design, architecture, interactive and media design and other related fields.

Further details and registration forms on Shenkar University Website

Fashion Co-Design Workshop

2010-05-17T20:51:00.000+01:00

Last Friday I designed and facilitated a workshop at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, at The University of Dundee.

The workshop was designed around an interchangeable dress and invited participants to submit designs. The changeable element was built in to explore multifunctional clothing as a method to challenge direct consumption by exploring alternative fashion interactions.

As a group we discussed ways to make clothing changeable but accessible. To customise fashion sewing skills and know how is required and this costs more money, takes time and requires effort therefore how can a fashion consumer get a quick fix in a do-able format?

To communicate the concepts the participants designed and produced a 'zine' to accessories their dress.

Each team presented their dress and zine. All integrated social and digital media into their concepts to create networks. These networks would support service design models, send members tokens for downloads, offer upgrade and repair. The networks would be designed to also conversations around the dress designs and showcase ways to assemble and style new looks.

The students were brilliant and offered some great designs and suggestions.

The final designs will be produced and new concepts will be added through future workshops. This will be showcased through a new blog and digital space.

Details to follow soon!

Shape-Morphing Textiles Workshop

2010-05-08T06:35:00.014+01:00

Lately I have been quite busy designing & facilitating a research seminar & workshop on Shape-Morphing Textiles in the Design of Domestic Spaces at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture, Copenhagen with the support of CITA. I am happy to share with you a flavour of the event.

The workshop gathered together researchers from polymer science & engineering, textile design & architecture to address the potential of shape-morphing textiles for the home. With the intention to encourage cross-disciplinary dialogue between science & design, we looked at how responsive polymer technologies can merge with fabric to design soft architectural membranes for resilient spaces.

Our journey started with the exploration of dielectric actuators through the design and making of electro-active modules with the support of Guggi Kofod , from Potsdam University. These experiments supported discussions on the opportunities and challenges of shape-morphing technologies, their design implementation & stakes, questions we explored further through scenario-building, brainstorming & prototyping with moisture responsive materials.

To enlarge the discussion, we presented our respective research to the public via a dedicated seminar on the topic who gathered designers, architects, researchers from all across Denmark & Sweden. The debated was very lively and we received a lot of interest.

I have to say it was a very rich and inspiring experience. Thanks all for taking part in this event.

MA Fashion Open Studio at Kingston University

2010-05-07T15:18:00.005+01:00

Two PhD Studentships - Design Products Royal College of Art & The V&A

2010-05-05T21:14:00.001+01:00

Two PhD Studentships - Design Products

Emerging Design Practice and Curating: paradigms and parameters

Royal College of Art

Design for Interactive System Conference 2010

2010-04-30T19:01:00.008+01:00

A bit last minute but a call for short papers & demonstratrion for the Design for Interactive System conference, that will take place next August in Aarhus, Denmark.

The DIS conference addresses design as an integrated activity spanning technical, social, cognitive, organisational, and cultural factors. It brings together professional designers, ethnographers, systems engineers, usability engineers, psychologists, design managers, product managers, academics and anyone involved in the design of interactive systems. DIS 2010 is held in cooperation with ACM SIGCHI.

submission DEADLINES
Please note that deadlines will NOT be extended.

15 February
* Full papers
* Workshop proposals

1 May
* Short papers
* Demonstrations
* Doctoral Consortium

(both dates are interpreted as 18:00 GMT)
See the Submission Details page for submission directions.

CONFERENCE

* 16-17 August: Workshops, Doctoral Consortium, etc.
* 18-20 August: Conference

Find out all the details on the conference's website.

2 PhD studentships offered by University College Falmouth

2010-04-29T10:36:00.003+01:00

Title:Crafting participatory design: the role and value of craft processes in the development of new participatory design methods

Autonomatic, the 3D Digital Production Research Group at UCF is offering a PhD studentship opportunity to develop and test new participatory design methods of potential value in business and social contexts based on approaches and characteristics associated with craft practice.

We are looking for a highly motivated individual with a post graduate qualification, or equivalent research skills, and practical making experience. You must be able to demonstrate your potential to intelligently and empathetically apply this making experience to working with others.

Dr Justin Marshall will act as the Director of Studies for this project. Professor David Frohlich director of the 'Digital World Research Centre' based at the University of Surrey will act as external supervisor.

Title: 21st century standard ware (the cultural heritage of Leach and the creative and economic benefits of digital technologies)

A research opportunity to be supported through a partnership between Leach Pottery, St Ives and Autonomatic
The Leach Pottery and Autonomatic, the 3D Digital Production Research Group at UCF are offering a unique PhD studentship opportunity to research and prototype innovative ceramic products that draw upon the cultural heritage of Leach and the creative and economic benefits of digital technologies.

We are looking for a highly motivated practitioner with post graduate or equivalent research skills in either digital design technologies and/or ceramic production to pursue this exciting opportunity to explore and develop Leach standards in 21st century Design contexts.

Dr Katie Bunnell, Autonomatic Research Group leader will act as Director of Studies for this project with Jack Doherty, Creative Director of Leach Pottery as advisor.

Deadline for receipt of Expressions of Interest: Thursday 13 May 2010
Visit http://www.falmouth.ac.uk/1178/research-15/phd-studentships-450.html
For further information and to download an Expression of Interest form.

Shape-Morphing Textiles Seminar

2010-04-09T14:12:00.016+01:00

An international seminar on shape-morphing textiles organized by Aurélie Mossé for the Centre for IT & Architecture, Royal Academy of Fines Arts, school of Architecture, Copenhagen.

Bringing together a panel of international speakers from the field of polymer science & engineering, textile design & architecture, this seminar will explore the potential of shape-morphing textiles for the home. With the intention to encourage cross-disciplinary dialogue between science & design, the seminar will discuss the opportunities and challenges of shape-morphing technologies while investigating their design perspective & stakes. A particular emphasize will be given to the question of how responsive polymer technologies can merge with fabric to design soft architectural membranes for resilient spaces.

Royal Academy of Fines Arts, School of Architecture, Philip de Langes Allé 10, 1435 Copenhagen

Please note this is a free event but with limited number of seats so please RSVP aurelie.mosse[at]karch.dk if interested.

PhD Fashion & Textile Networking Event

2010-04-02T17:17:00.008+01:00

This is a particularly relevant event for any PhD with a textile or fashion related research organized by FTC.

Third edition of the event, the idea is to support and provide active networking opportunities for UK M Phil and Ph D students engaged in fashion and/or textiles and fashion and textile related research.

The next event will be held on Wednesday 28 April 2010 at Chelsea College of Art & Design, London.

Each participant will be allocated 10 minutes for a power point presentation to introduce your research and facilitate discussion. It’s a great opportunity to network and develop research synergies.

Spread the word – and if you’re an M Phil or Ph D student engaged in fashion and/or textiles and fashion and textile related research and would like to attend, please contact marlene.little@bcu.ac.uk for further information and to book the event.

Jennifer and I are joining the event. Maybe see you there?

The Future of Publishing - Created by DK (UK)

2010-03-26T08:57:00.003Z

Short and sweet presentation with a twist be sure to watch it, to the end! It was produced by Penguin for an internal conference but then released into the public realm as everyone loved it.

Online Live Design Debate

2010-03-24T15:54:00.003Z

To reg for the online webcast go to the design council website

Sustainable futures at Design Museum

2010-03-16T06:48:00.004Z

Local River by Mathieu Lehanneur in collaboration with Anthony van den Bossche. Photo credit Gaëtan Robillard

Sustainability is everywhere these days and in particular at the Design Museum London from the 31 March till the 05 September

"From the world’s first carbon neutral city to a refrigerator which doubles as an aquarium, this exhibition explores a range of products, concepts and projects that address issues of sustainability in their design. Through prototypes, samples, products and film, you can find out more about your impact on the world and how to change it.

Presented around five themes: Cities, Energy and Economics, Food, Materiality and Creative Citizens, this overview shows the changing role of the designer and reveals how design can make a difference.

To explore some of the themes in the exhibition the museum is hosting a series of discussions, seminars and professional conferences on sustinable design. Please sign up to receive further information by email."

All about the show here

Finding our Fashion Footing

2010-03-04T10:48:00.004Z

London College of Fashion are organising a conference in collaboration with the Centre for Fashion Studies at Stockholm University.

A showcase of fashion themed PhD practice and research will be presented and problematised to position within the future fashion landscape.

I have RSVP'd and really look forward to meeting the other students and engaging in such discussion. I will follow this post with a write up of the event.

Places are limited so if your interested in attending this event: contact Rachel research@fashion.arts.ac.uk to reserve a place.

Getting the best from People: how to chat cheerfully and successfully?

2010-02-24T11:15:00.005Z

Getting People to Talk: An Ethnography & Interviewing Primer from Gabe & Kristy on Vimeo.

When I studied on my Mdes Course we called taking to our stakeholders cheerful chats, an informal process that captured insights for our research practice and development. But, when working towards designing something for the stakeholders who will ultimately use/ need/ want the end output - How do we capture their insights successfully?

By this I mean - encouraging them to talk about what they really use/ need/ want. How to nurture them to feel comfortable enough to share their insights? And how to capture them without losing any valuable information in the process?

This video is a valuable tool.

I found it via Redjotter a fantastic blog by Lauren Currie on Service Design thinking, practice and innovation. A great resource for any service design enthusiasts!

Visual Research Methods

2010-02-23T17:01:00.004Z

I have been doing lots of research into design thinking, research methods and visualisation. This diagram is a great tool for sourcing visual methods and concepts... Visit the website and hover over an icon which will expand each element further.

Fashion Comes to Life

2010-02-23T12:29:00.006Z

Fashion Label Cassette Playa launched a t-shirt collection with a difference designed by Carri Munden in collaboration with the Digital Fashion Studio at London College of Fashion . The T-shirts have a small symbol similar to a barcode integrated into the graphic print.

Munden stated that “Cassette Playa is all about mixing reality and fantasy.” When viewed through a webcam or mobile phone they come to life through Augmented Reality - AR. This technology allows video, text and graphics to become animated to change shape and form.

Digital media is playing a significant role within London Fashion Week. The majority of the catwalk shows have been streamed live on via the internet with twitter integrated into their web platform. This supports a fashion dialogue and opens the arena up - to everyone!

Burberry have built a Marquee in the parade ground here at Chelsea and their catwalk collection will hit the runway in 3D! Want a front row seat? Visit London Fashion Week at 16.00 (3D glasses not provided)

Fashion 2.0 | Suzy Menkes on the Growing Influence of Fashion Blogs

2010-02-18T17:04:00.002Z

On Fashionblogs from Mary Scherpe on Vimeo.

Eco deco: sustainable interior design

2010-02-12T09:03:00.006Z

Elisabeth Buecher & Aurélie Mossé from Puff & Flock have been invited to talk a at Ecobuild this year, so if you want to know more about textiles underpinned with ecological values, come to see us on the 3rd of march:

13.20 – 13.40 Eco chic – green fabrics and textiles don't have to be dowdy

The session will be hosted by Olivier Heath, gathering among other Annabelle Filer from SCIN and furniture designer Benjamin Hubert. Discover the full programme here.

Venue
Ecobuild, Earls Court, London
Thames Room

Electro-active polymers

2010-01-29T01:11:00.001Z

Pursuing my journey through energy-harvesting and self-actuated textiles, I am currently exploring the potential of electro-active polymers, in the design of responsive textiles, in collaboration with Dr Guggi Kofod from the University of Potsdam, Germany, Departement of Applied Condensed Matter Physics.

Ultra thin stretch fabric

2010-01-28T10:40:00.006Z

Stretch compostable fabric

As a part of my investigations I am looking for ultra thin stretch fabrics and I was wondering if you could be of help. Would you know any supplier / manufacturer that would provide strecth fabric with a thickness below 0,05mm ? Any suggestion is welcome including tights manufacturer!

I would also like to take advantage of this post to encourage visitors to leave feedbacks and questions as this platform is also very much about sharing information and creating debate within the future textiles community and beyond.

Climate Crunch: making the economics fit

2010-01-27T07:51:00.001Z

LSE Sustainability in Practice lecture, co-hosted by the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment

Date: Thursday 4 February 2010
Time: 6.30-8pm
Venue: Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House
Speaker: Jonathon Porritt
Chair: Professor Eric Neumayer

At the beginning of this new decade more people in the US and UK remain unpersuaded by the science of climate change than this time last year. Could it be that people have spotted the yawning gap between the politicians' apocalyptic rhetoric and the bland lifestyle advice to change your light bulbs or drive more slowly? What if there's no solution to climate change without freeing ourselves from our obsession with economic growth?

Jonathon Porritt is a writer, broadcaster and commentator. He co-founded Forum for the Future and is co-director of The Prince of Wales's Business and Environment Programme.

This event is free and open to all with no ticket required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis. For more information, email events@lse.ac.uk| or call 020 7955 6043.

Media queries: please contact the Press Office if you would like to reserve a press seat or have a media query about this event, email pressoffice@lse.ac.uk|

Podcasts

We aim to make all LSE events available as a podcast subject to receiving permission from the speaker/s to do this, and subject to no technical problems with the recording of the event. Podcasts are normally available 1-2 working days after the event.

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Architectures of time

2010-01-26T10:59:00.002Z

In Architectures of Time, Sanford Kwinter offers a critical guide to the modern history of time and to the interplay between the physical sciences and the arts. Tracing the transformation of twentieth-century epistemology to the rise of thermodynamics and statistical mechanics, Kwinter explains how the demise of the concept of absolute time, and of the classical notion of space as a fixed background against which things occur, led to field theory and a physics of the "event." He suggests that the closed, controlled, and mechanical world of physics gave way to the approximate, active, and qualitative world of biology as a model of both scientific and metaphysical explanation.

Kwinter examines theory of time and space in Einstein's theories of relativity and shows how these ideas were reflected in the writings of the sculptor Umberto Boccioni, the town planning schema of the Futurist architect Antonio Sant'Elia, the philosophy of Henri Bergson, and the writings of Franz Kafka. He argues that the writings of Boccioni and the visionary architecture of Sant'Elia represent the earliest and most profound deployments of the concepts of field and event. In discussing Kafka's work, he moves away from the thermodynamic model in favor of the closely related one of Bergsonian duree, or virtuality. He argues that Kafka's work manifests a coherent cosmology that can be understood only in relation to the constant temporal flux that underlies it.

This book is of immense inspiration to discuss the notion of time in respect to responsive architecture and the idea of an architecture of the event as a fruit of modernity. I am now exploring how it can inform the thinking of self-actuated textiles.

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From Gesamtkunstwerk to Complexity – Architecture in All Scales

2010-01-26T08:24:00.002Z

Dear colleagues,

You are kindly invited to join an international seminar in Tampere, Finland on 22 – 24.4.2010. The seminar is part of the annual seminar series of the Nordic Association of Architectural Research, this time organized by the Tampere University of Technology/ School of Architecture.

The theme is:From Gesamtkunstwerk to Complexity – Architecture in All Scales

In the Gesamtkunstwerk idea all arts were combined to create a total environment – is the same now discussed under the concept of complexity? If complexity is a unifying theory for different sciences, can it also be understood as a new synthesis of arts?

What is complexity in architecture? It has been said that there are three kinds of complexity: 1) visual, as the term was used in Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture, 2) cybernetic, referring to machines, and 3) biological, meaning the complexity of nature and its applications in algorithms. This may be a valid categorization – but what else?

1. History & theory

Art, science and technology as the model for architecture – then and now? Concepts come and go, but some are more durable than others. Gesamtkunstwerk seems to be one of them, resurfacing whenever there is a need for a comprehensive multifaceted outlook. Is such an outlook needed today? What was Gesamtkunstwerk originally?

2. Morphology

How does the understanding of complexity change our approach to urban form? Morphological transformations are multi-scalar - what is the linkage between the transformations in urban form and in architecture? What is the current design challenge of cities?

3. Ethics

If the environment is characterized by complexity, is it ethical to create idyllic enclaves of presumed safety? Is there a place for ethics in architecture? If not, what is in the center of architecture? Has humanity been cast aside?

4. Planning and design processes & methods

What is the relationship between reality and virtual reality? Between metaphor and model? Are there other ways to handle complexity in architecture besides computer modeling? Could integrated design approaches be the answer? Or can complexity be handled? If the goal is to understand, should not methods be found to somehow guide complexity?

Those who wish to speak at the seminar on a topic that may fit under the above mentioned four sub-themes, please send an abstract of a maximum of 250 words to the address architecture@tut.fi by February 15, 2010.

Those who have been informed that their abstracts have been accepted, and also wish to prepare a paper for the seminar, should send the paper (max 40 000 characters) by April 9, 2010 to the address architecture@tut.fi . The papers will be published in a conference CD-rom, and selected papers will also be published in an issue of Nordisk Arkitekturforskning.

Those who wish to participate without presenting a talk or a paper are invited to fill the registration form on the conference website (in function from February 2010).

The talks and papers should preferably be in English. Further information will be available soon from the following website: www.tut.fi/ark.

Conference e-mail: architecture@tut.fi .

Abstracts in by 15.2.2010

Registration by 31.3.2010

Paper deadline 9.4.2010

Seminar 22.4. – 24.4.2010.

Create Conference 2010: Transitions theme

2010-01-20T05:35:00.010Z

The CREATE conference is all about creating innovative interactions, whether digital consumer products, interactive services or interaction paradigms. The event is an opportunity to share and discuss the design opportunities and dilemmas that are currently being addressed by practitioners and researchers from the commercial, public and academic sectors.As well as presentation of academic research and student work, the event will provide real learning opportunities through hands-on workshops, case studies and demonstrations. We also welcome theoretical and research perspectives on the process of design innovation and approaches to creativity in HCI; how human factors can be integrated within a creative design process, methods that encourage creativity in interaction design, and the challenges of working in multi-disciplinary teams.

CREATE is jointly organised by the Human-Computer Interaction Specialist Group of the Ergonomics Society, the British Computing Society's Interaction Specialist Group and Edinburgh Napier University’s Centre for Interaction Design.

Call for Full papers, workshops, short presentations, demonstrations and exhibits
THEME :Transitions

Analogue / Digital
Academic / Practice
Place / Time
Real /Virtual

We are seeking original, unpublished work under the following categories
- High quality academic papers for peer review (max 6 pages)
- Practical workshops
- Short papers and/or case studies from practitioners within the field< - Short presentations and/or posters from students - demonstrations and/or videos of installation-based exhibits or creative work in progress

Deadline
1 page abstracts for papers: 15th March 2010
2 page proposals for all other submissions: 15th March 2010

Notification of acceptance: Early April 2010
Full paper submission : End of April 2010

Contact Ingi Helgason: i.helgason@napier.ac.uk

More details

Fashion in Fiction - The Dark Side

2010-01-19T11:26:00.004Z

October 8 - 10, 2010
Drexel University
Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design
Philadelphia, PA.

Roland Barthes proposed that fashion was not a just an industry, but also a set of fictions. Barthes did not wish to ignore the economic function of fashion, but rather underline fashion’s mythic dimension and suggest that fashion is a language in itself. Fashion and fiction have long existed in close proximity; writers have been driven by their experience of fashion and fashion has been developed through and by literary tropes. What makes dress and fashion such a fascinating subject for writers? How are fashion’s mythologies constructed and disseminated through fictional texts? How does fashion relate to art, popular culture, business, the body, consumer studies, and those who might read it as a form of text?

This interdisciplinary conference seeks to investigate the role that fashion has played in our culture. These “mini-narratives” can include fiction, non-fiction, cultural and historical studies, and other types of comparative, descriptive and/or empirical research. In particular, it will examine the dark side of fashion discourse, assessing the role, function, and purpose of clothes, fashion movements, style, and image in creating narratives within narratives. The dark side of fashion can include such obvious topics as gothic, punk, the color black, and vampires. Other topics that have traditionally been viewed as “dark” include polyester fabric, couture knock-offs, deviant fashion advertising, sweatshops, and child labor. Authors are also encouraged to define their own meaning of “dark”.

Papers fitting the conference theme are sought from those engaged in the fields of fashion studies, social sciences, humanities, creative writing, media, cultural studies, design, philosophy, and business.

Papers, work-in-progress and workshop proposals are invited.

Possible topics may include but not limited to:
· feminist versus feminized discourses in fashion and display
· animated texts
· fashion in crime fiction
· graphic novels
· the semiotics of fashion
· historical fiction
· queer readings of fashion
· mystery
· textiles
· the color black
· marketing
· the body/body image
· consumer studies
· new media
· script and cinematic texts
· metaphor/metaphorical fiction
· subcultural style

Abstract Deadline: April 1, 2010

Submission Process: Those interested should send an abstracts of no more than 500 words. Everyone will be notified of acceptance by June 1, 2010.

Peer Review: All abstracts will be peer-reviewed. Those abstracts accepted for presentations will be published online as well as in the conference proceedings.

Paper Submission for Possible Publication: Those interested in having their papers published may submit the entire manuscript for possible book publication.

Website: http://www.drexel.edu/westphal/events/fashioninfiction/

Beyond Green 2009

2010-01-12T14:56:00.005Z

Good Design was the central them of Beyond Green this year. An event hosted on 9th Nov 2009 athe the AMFI - Amsterdam Fashion Institute of the Arts.

This theme had been chosen due to increasing concern and demand for reduced environmental impact of goods and services.

The event focused upon the role of the designers and companies application of good design thinking. The symposium hosted a range of speakers from David Shah, Dr Kate Fletcher, Mark Liu, Carolyn Strauss and many more. The symposium was accompanied by an exhibition.

Their web platform has documented the event, hosting lots of images, power point presentations and video footage. I think this has been executed really well and is a great was to disseminate the event to a wider audience: sparking future discussions and after thoughts.

Francois Roche in Copenhagen

2010-01-11T11:04:00.007Z

French Architect Francois Roche from the innovative studio R&Sie will give a talk at the house of Architecture in Copenhagen. Come and check his work:

14th of january, 17h30
Arkitekternes Hus – Strandgade 27A
1401 Copenhague
Free entrance

More info here

FUNDING FOR PH.D. in “Architectural Robotics”

2009-12-08T19:43:00.004Z

Colleagues of mine from the Archibots workshop are currently looking for a new PhD student in architectural robotics to start in Clemson University (USA) in August 2010. So spread the word among your architects'friends:

Individuals trained in Architecture and/or the allied Design disciplines and interested in pursuing a Ph.D. focusing on design research may apply now for one or more funded openings, with August 2010 entry, to Clemson University. Full funding and living stipend will be awarded to a qualified applicant interested in engaging in research being undertaken within the research group IMSA (Intelligent Materials and Systems for Architecture) under the direction of Keith Evan Green. The successful candidate(s) will be expected to focus on the design, prototyping and evaluation of “architectural robotics” or, more broadly, computation embedded in the built environment at any scale. All IMSA research projects are collaborative, developed in partnership with faculty and students in Electrical and Computing Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering and Human Factors Psychology. The degree of Ph.D. will be granted by Clemson’s Ph.D. Program in PDB&E (Planning, Design & the Built Environment). Clemson is a top-25 U.S. public research university located between Atlanta and Charlotte. For consideration, applicants must complete the on-line application forms and forward official GRE and (for non-US citizens) TOFEL scores to the Graduate School; and email a design portfolio (a pdf file of less than 5MB, please) and copies of GRE and TOFEL scores to Professor Green. For best consideration, please submit these materials by February 15, 2010.

Contacts and Links:

Professor Keith Evan Green, kegreen@clemson.edu

IMSA: www.IMSA-research.org

PH.D. PDBE Program Director Mickey Lauria, mlauria@clemson.edu

Ph.D. PDBE: http://virtual.clemson.edu/caah/pdbe/

Apply on-line: http://www.grad.clemson.edu/ProspectiveStudents.php

Fast Fashion & Co-Design: Working Together

2009-12-07T12:32:00.000Z

I designed and facilitated a workshop last Friday for MA Textile students at Chelsea College of Art & Design. The workshop was part of a piece I am working on for TED'S Ever & Again publication on upcycling textiles. It is an outcome of an AHRC funded research project directed by Rebecca Earley .

The workshop was titled Fast Fashion & Co-Design: working together

I used co-design to "orchestrate creative conversations" a term coined by Leadbeater (2009) to inspire collaborative concepts. We borrowed IDEO 's 3 core concept of design thinking to structure the workshop... It was divided into 3 sections... empathy, prototyping and storytelling.

I really enjoyed working with the students to explore these concepts and they presented some really interesting ideas and exciting solutions.